Georgie was the light in our lives. Andrew and I read so much before and during our guardianship of Georgie. We always wanted to do what was best.
We were told she would never be a snuggle bunny – but we were proving that wrong. Georgie had come around to seeking attention and hunkering down beside us on the couch to be patted. She LOVED Andrew; she had been fixed before we adopted her but she always circled him. I was the only one she trusted & permitted to pick her up; we wanted to be able to clip nails at home to reduce her stress.
We made her a multi-level C&C condo, she had free roam whenever we were home. We just upgrade to a luxury carpet that was larger then the first and would be less abrasive to her Rex fur feet.
In a week and a day we were moving into a bigger place with a long hallway; we had gotten a long low pile carpet runner for the length of the hall. We were calling it the Binky Runway.
We had planned a safe and reduced stress moving strategy and weren’t going to start packing until it wouldn’t effect her happiness.
Friday the 28th she wouldn’t eat breakfast. We mixed the critical care and got out the pain meds; she needed this every time she molted. We gave her the correct amount of each for her weight but had to go to work. After 9-5 was done we came home and she still hadn’t eaten. More pain meds and only a few cc’s of CC hoping she would eat on her own shortly. We gave tummy massage and heard gas so we started the simithicone (1 cc per hour for 3 hours). We gave her the dinner CC and sat up late with her. Made sure she wasn’t alone. Tried to warm up a blanket for her but she wouldn’t stay.
Just after midnight we went to bed; if she wasn’t well by morning we go to the vet. Our wonderful rabbit savvy vet is only a few km from home. When we got up Georgie hadn’t eaten, nor were there any poops in her cleaned litter box. Pjs became clothes, we packed but didn’t give CC that morning (her stomach was distended and I was afraid there might be a blockage) – we packed everything we had administered to Georgie into a bag, granola bars for our breakfast, brushed our teeth and left with Georgie.
The X-ray showed that there was a large calcified mass where her liver should be and no visible liver tissue.
There was nothing that could be done. It was impacting her stomach and by extension her digestive system. She was dying and in pain.
She wasn’t stable enough for surgery and even if they could didn’t know if the situation was operable. GI status had set in in spite of our efforts. There wasn’t a hope of a future healthy Georgie.
It never occurred to me that we would have to go home with an empty carrier. She was so young.
We haven’t eaten a home cooked meal since. We’ve moved but I still can’t stop thinking about the family plans we’d made. We’re both depressed. What a loss, many people don’t understand. No such thing as just a rabbit – she was our baby.
I’ve never heard of anything like this; how does this happen?